“When I was a child, I talked like a child;
I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of
childhood behind me.”
1 Corinthians 13:10-12
When I was a very
young kid my first experiences of the country occurred while being ‘farmed out’
for the summers to my Uncle Leon, in Nutbush,
Tennessee. There were cows and
pigs, horses and hens, buzzards and crows. Times were quieter then and sounds
could be heard well past the next farm or two but the best sound of all was that
of the great dinner bell.
A few years later,
after Papa retired from the railroad, we moved up to our farm, Highway 19 east
of Ripley. There, trains could be heard
across Lauderdale County as they worked their way from Chicago,
along the Mighty Mississippi and through the great Delta to New Orleans.
One of the greatest sounds from that era was the day World War II was
over and the sounds from town, three and a half miles away, included the shrill
shriek of the whistle from the tomato canning factory, the fire department’s several
serious sirens, a cacophony of car horns from the highway and I promise you, I
think we may have heard people shouting.
Many years later,
in Collierville, I lay face down in the aging green shag carpet of the office
of my counselor, pastor and friend. For weeks we had been praying for God to dig
deep into the depths of my soul, to forgive my sins and finish a work in me He
had began many years before. I had moved
from the seated position to the kneeling position and lastly, prone on the
carpet when I heard it, the sound of the train approaching the crossing. The engineer alerted everyone within hearing
that the train was coming and essentially ‘there’. Being from a railroad family I understood the
message from the train, “I am here.” God
was nearby. He had heard my prayers and I had heard
his voice through the train whistle. I stood to my feet a changed person.
Prayer really changes things. Prayer makes a difference. God changes lives.
Years
later, Matt Surber, senior pastor-designate, was wrapping up his sermon on his
introductory test run at Central
Church and I had been
praying along with him that God would ‘show up’ and bless his efforts. Then, I heard it again, as if on cue....the
sound of the train, “I am here”. Prayer changes things. God changes lives.
He, God,
through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, is right here in the middle of our
church, our lives and the ‘big C church’ out there. He is calling
the lost unto himself...bringing salvation to the yet untamed and unchurched
masses and tending His flock. To hear and
to heed the voice of our Lord is a great daily prayer. It is also a
thought that should penetrate, permeate and occupy our hearts, our minds, our thoughts and
our souls, constantly through the day and into the night.
May the sounds of
“The Engineer” and the long train of His eternal salvation move in and along the tracks of your life and those of your loved ones...soon and often.
“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your
spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be
joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in
need.” Romans 12: 11-13
